Minimarg is Now Wide-open for Tourists By Government Of Pakistan

Government of Pakistan has certain to allow domestic and foreign travellers to visit Minimarg valley of Astore district. Now Afterwards June 15 ,2019 tourists can stopover at the Minimarg and adore the most beautiful part of Gilgit-Baltistan. After Independence of Pakistan, this is for the first time that Minimarg valley will welcome travelers both domestic and global.

I had merely just heard about Minimarg, a beautiful town near to the Indian borderline. It’s around 35 km from Chilam post. First you had to get approval from Army, as 80 brigades is placed at Minimarg. We needed reference of at least captain rank officer who can call at Chilam post to move forward. Thanks to this government this tension has been resolved.

A stunning lake, Rainbow lake is situated close to Domel that is a village in the very distant Minimarg valley in Astor District. Time stops at Rainbow Lake. I consider this is the greatest I can label the fascinating beauty of this lake. Rainbow Lake is small in size however do not lack in beauty. It is nourished by fresh water small streams from neighboring mountains. Rainbow Lake is gifted with crystal pure water that change shades from greenish-blue color to lime throughout different periods of daytime. The lake holds big sized brown Trout fish and is famous among the trout fishermen.

Yet, Rainbow Lake and Minimarg Valley is very hard to reach. Minimarg Valley can merely be come within reach through 14,500 foot great Burzil Pass. It remains blocked due to dense snow fall that remains there around 7-8 months in a year. Possible times to go Minimarg are June, July and August.

Quick Suggestions:

As we share boarder with India so we have to be watchful. Allowing without reference is fine but do have standard identity card check and entry exit evidence of tourists.

There are no sound rooms available apart from Army guest houses. Not everyone appreciates camping. So I suggest to balance between Mother Nature and constructions, there must be decent class camps built-in for tourist.

Don't leave plastic waste there. Avoid littering and abolishing the region by cutting out branches, as it all destroys the beauty of wildlife. We have to practice it like it is made of glass, be careful with nature and leave it as we see it.

KPK To Gilgit-Baltistan

Safety Precautions in Chilas for Vehicle Life

and In Kohistan for Your Own Life!

Lulusar Lake

After my first experience of camping, the cold night stay in Naran ended. We refreshed ourselves in the morning with a mug of tea. Shut our camp and packed the things back to the trunk. It appeared a headache if you have to organise this on early morning. We continued our journey from Naran towards Babusar top. On the way we enjoyed the Lulusar Lake view from Road. The Lulusar Lake is more similar to a calm river type lake moving beside the road. Its aqua colour does appeal the eyes of every tourist travelling from Naran towards Babusar Top.

Weather gets colder and colder as you move towards Babusar top. When we reached Babusar top it was the place for Mother Nature lovers only. As its not much to do there and quality of food is below average, the thing you do there is take a strong wind walk with a majestic view of mountain ranges connecting at this point. It’s the shortest approach towards Hunza side from Chilas, but only opens for limited months. It is said that there are very rare places where you can travel to the height of 4,173 meter in your car. We friends were lucky because usually the way from Babusar top is blocked because of heavy snowfalls. We didn’t stay there for long and continued our journey.

Zigzag Chilas Road

The Road to Chilas is one of the most dangerous paved roads. You have to keep a temperament to keep the vehicle slow in a snake type zigzag slope. Some cars brakes do get hot there, so have to keep it slow and avoid heavy-duty breakdowns. The tough braking wears the brake pads faster. It can similarly overheat and harm the rotors each by generating glazing. In adding to this, around each part of the vehicle will be suffering additional stress. As the burden of the car moves forward your car shocks and coils compress placing more weight on the suspension, ball bushings, joints, wheel bearings, etc. This transference of burden will place the tires in additional friction, triggering them to wear sooner. Your car alignment slants can transform as well under these situation which lead to affect the tires.

Stone Homes In-between Chalas and Kohistan

In 2011 and 2012 the security was wicked in Kohistan. The Kohistan police use to stop busses to travel at night. Sometimes at that place they use to stop and transfer traffic in form of conveys to protect the traveller's. When we entered Kohistan it was day time and the security was not rigid, only our Identity cards were checked. So I do recommend travelling from Kohistan at day period to evade any misfortune or difficulty from security. Try not to stop your car if some random people came across you especially near Harban Nala place as there are many incidents recorded of men executed for just having a dissimilar set of religious opinions. Though I was prepared for this all because of news circulating in media but fortunately this all appeared fake to me. However the situation of living style in that place is rigid, still I didn’t found anything to be petrified of. All appreciations to Pak Army that the security situation is controlled there now as compare to the period between 2010 and 2013.

PART 3: First Nightly Stopover Beside The Fairy Land ‘NARAN’

Jheel Saif Ul Malook

It’s always tough to bring beauty into words, still expressing my best. After having lovely breakfast in Kunhar river we packed our luggage back into the trunk. Almost after 8 hours from Islamabad we were in Naran Bazar. Without wasting time we took stove and things to make tea from car and rent a jeep for Jheel Saif Ul Malook. After some quarrel the jeep was hired for Rs.2500. One of most treacherous roads I have experienced was from Naran Bazar to Jheel Saif ul Malook. There are two main well known hazardous jeep tracks in the way to china boarder from Islamabad where true skills of 4*4 jeeps can be experienced. One is Raikot to Fairy Medows and the other is to Jheel Saif Ul Malook from Naran Bazar. Traitorous great altitude, uneven narrow mountain roads and local driving techniques will makes you sit pretty attentive. On left hand the mountains and the other side the straight steep slopes will make the blood pump hard. The drivers know where to keep the speed and where to stop to give way to the approaching jeeps from another side. It’s a true talent gain from their experience. 

After 45 minutes of bumpy road when we reached an altitude of 3,224 meters and 10,578 feet above sea level and saw the blue sparkler clear and freezing water in a bowl shape lake, fenced by massive glaciers it took away our all travelling wooziness and it appeared all worthy. The spellbinding view of clouds touching the mountains and cold breeze along fog crossing us is magical experience. We had to hike around 5 minutes down from jeep stop to lake where we can find small stalls of food items. 
I do recommend you to experience egg Pakoras and a cup of tea with it. We sat there for hour and enjoyed the mesmerising view. we came across a person who told us the very famous story of that place. As the story was love triangle between prince of Egypt Saif-ul-Malook, the gorgeous fairy known as Badi-ul-Jamaal and the Safaid Diyo (white giant). There is a lake around hour tracking from jheel Saiful Malook known as Ansu jheel which is said to be created out by the tears of white giant in loss of fairy. Rent of horse was Rs.500 per horse and the guide was hired for Rs.500. We planned to camp in Jheel Saif Ul Malook but due to security we were not allowed to camp around. We came back to Naran Bazar and visited local shops there. 

The Next Morning at Kunhar River

After some time we camped near Kunhar river and cooked food by our self. Played cards at night and enjoyed the lovely dinner with friends. We tie a shopper of mangoes and dip it in Cold Kunhar River and in no time the mangoes were chilled and tasted delicious. We slept in camp with the peaceful sound of river.

Trip to Khunjarab Border (Part 1) The Rebellious Start.

Well we have Daniyal, Haris, Ijlal and me (Ahmed) were planning about this trip form few months. We were filling our parents ear about our trip and we were saving money for that trip from few months. It was Thursday, ‎September ‎17, ‎2015 before to decide the date to go on a life experiencing trip full of adventures and see the nature of our beautiful Pakistan on our all alone. One day before leaving we gather all the necessary stuff which was going to be used on our trip and pack our bags on that night. 

The Rebellious Start. 

Next day Haris picked Dani and ijlal with all their things in the car trunk which was almost full came to my house. We decided that we will park Haris car in our garage and we will take my car instead of Haris because ground clearance matters a lot when you are going to mountain areas. Haris car had low ground clearance that’s why they choose my car. For further safety I already lifted my car by installing aluminum gaps of 3 inch on upper portion of my car shocks. 

My parents didn’t know about it and I was afraid that they may refuse me to go. Dani opened the gate of my house, and we start pushing the car to get out of garage towards the road. We didn’t started the car because my parents were sleeping and I don’t want them to know that we are going on my car. 

It was after midnight around 2 am we started our journey. Our first stop was Naran, and we want to reach there before afternoon. We have everything, so we decided to take a break near Kaghan and make our breakfast. We stopped beside the Kunhar River and bring our related stuff like stove, eggs, kettle, and bread for the breakfast. Haris was the chef he started making omelet, Ijlal, Dani and me we were washing utensils in the river, so we can have our breakfast, appears to be easy but that icy water was not so pleasant to our hands.

Friends Visiting The Jewles Of Pakistan

How It Started: 

It’s my first blog after visiting numerous places of Pakistan, i consider it’s time to communicate people around the world what's the feeling of getting ever lasting memories. It is well said by Ibn Battuta that “Travelling, it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” The taste of hospitality, the taste of pondering new way of doing things, the taste of adventures, and the taste of experience you will remember for lifetime. There is so much in my mind to tell, thinking where to start, let me say it’s in my blood. My grandfather was very fond of travelling within Punjab and KPK provinces of Pakistan. He lived in Lahore and visited Muree for minimum hundred times. I remember when he was old around eighty years, and all the family use to halt them from taking tours, he use to go on local buses without telling anybody.

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First One Day Trip to Nathiagali
‎August ‎04, ‎2010

Let me ask you, can you travel alone? Well i don’t enjoy travelling without friends even if it’s for 10 km drive. I was lucky to have a bunch of crazy friends in my college life. Finding that rebel minds in Islamabad is quiet a blessing. I remember our first trip was from Islamabad to Nathiagali. As I belong to a brown family, and issue remains that we are never easy to get approvals. At other hand we teenagers had some wicked solutions for that, so we told our families that it was a college trip but we went to Nathiagali with a picnic basket on a local transport and stayed there for a night all on our own. I had visited places within Islamabad many times with friends, but Nathiagali was a starter that led us to visit ninety percent of popular destination in Pakistan.

Travelling in Pakistan is a truly matchless experience. It can be frustrating, informative, life changing and much more. Pakistan is the best backpacking destination, if you are admirer of real adventure. Pakistani people are most hospitable, loving, kind and welcoming, especially if you are a foreigner.
With my crazy crew of friends I travelled from Islamabad towards places that are the borderlines of Pakistan like, China boarder, Wagha boarder Lahore, Karachi Sea and to the future of Pakistan Gawadar Port. I’ll be uploading soon how we travelled all these places in the minimum budget we can. I’ll be sharing stories that totally change my Life and I’m sure if you travel yourself you will experience the warmth of my adventures in Pakistan.